Once there was a young woman with many suitors; but she refused to marry. She had
seven brothers and one little sister. Their mother had been dead many years and they
had no relatives, but lived alone with their father.

Every day the six brothers went out hunting with their father. It seems that the young
woman had a bear for her lover and, as she did not want any one to know this, she
would meet him when she went out after wood.

She always went after wood as soon as her father and brothers went out to hunt, leaving
her little sister alone in the lodge. As soon as she was out of sight in the brush, she
would run to the place where the bear lived.

As the little sister grew older, she began to be curious as to why her older sister spent so
much time getting wood. So one day she followed her. She saw the young woman meet
the bear and saw that they were lovers. When she found this out, she ran home as
quickly as she could, and when her father returned she told him what she had seen.
When he heard the story he said, "So, my elder daughter has a bear for a husband. Now
I know why she does not want to marry."

Then he went about the camp, telling all his
people that they had a bear for a brother-in-law, and that he wished all the men to go out
with him to kill this bear. So they went, found the bear, and killed him.
When the young woman found out what had been done, and that her little sister had told
on her, she was very angry.

She scolded her little sister vigorously, then ordered her to go out to the dead bear, and
bring some flesh from his paws. The little sister began to cry, and said she was afraid to
go out of the lodge, because a dog with young pups had tried to bite her. "Oh, do not be afraid!" said the young woman. "I will paint your face like that of a bear,
with black marks across the: eyes and at the corners of the mouth; then no one will
touch you." So she went for the meat. Now the older sister was a powerful medicine76
woman. She could tan hides in a new way. She could take up a hide, strike it four times
with her skin-scraper and it would be tanned.

The little sister had a younger brother that she carried on her back. As their mother was
dead, she took care of him. One day the little sister said to the older sister, "Now you be
a bear and we will go out into the brush to play." The older sister agreed to this, but said, "Little sister, you must not touch me over my kidneys." So the big sister acted as a bear,
and they played in the brush. While they were playing, the little sister forgot what she
had been told, and touched her older sister in the wrong place.

At once she turned into a real bear, ran into the camp, and killed many of the people.
After she had killed a large number, she turned back into her former self. Now, when the
little sister saw the older run away as a real bear, she became frightened, took up her
little brother, and ran into their lodge. Here they waited, badly frightened, but were very
glad to see their older sister return after a time as her true self.

Now the older brothers were out hunting, as usual. As the little sister was going down for
water with her little brother on her back, she met her six brothers returning. The brothers
noted how quiet and deserted the camp seemed to be. So they said to their little sister, "Where are all our people?" Then the little sister explained how she and her sister were
playing, when the elder turned into a bear, ran through the camp, and killed many
people.

She told her brothers that they were in great danger, as their sister would surely kill them
when they came home. So the six brothers decided to go into the brush. One of them
had killed a jack-rabbit. He said to the little sister, "You take this rabbit home with you.
When it is dark, we will scatter prickly-pears all around the lodge, except in one place.
When you come out, you must look for that place, and pass through."

When the little sister came back to the lodge, the elder sister said, "Where have you
been all this time?" "Oh, my little brother mussed himself and I had to clean him," replied
the little sister. "Where did you get that rabbit?" she asked. "I killed it with a sharp stick," said the little sister. "That is a lie. Let me see you do it," said the older sister. Then the
little sister took up a stick lying near her, threw it at the rabbit, and it stuck in the wound
in his body.

"Well, all right," said the elder sister. Then the little sister dressed the rabbit and cooked
it. She offered some of it to her older sister, but it was refused: so the little sister and her
brother ate all of it. When the elder sister saw that the rabbit had all been eaten, she
became very angry, and said, "Now I have a mind to kill you."

So the little sister arose quickly, took her little brother on her back, and said, "I am going
out to look for wood."

As she went out, she followed the narrow trail through the prickly-pears and met her six
brothers in the brush. Then they decided to leave the country, and started off as fast as
they could go.

The older sister, being a powerful medicine-woman, knew at once what they were doing.
She became very angry and turned herself into a bear to pursue them. Soon she was
about to overtake them, when one of the boys tried his power. He took a little water in
the hollow of his hand and sprinkled it around. At once it became a great lake between
them and the bear.

Then the children hurried on while the bear went around. After a while the bear caught
up with them again, when another brother threw a porcupine-tail (a hairbrush) on the
ground. This became a great thicket; but the bear forced its way through, and again
overtook the children. This time they all climbed a high tree. The bear came to the foot of
the tree, and, looking up at them, said, "Now I shall kill you all."

So she took a stick from the ground, threw it into the tree and knocked down four of the
brothers. While she was doing this, a little bird flew around the tree, calling out to the
children, "Shoot her in the head! Shoot her in the head!" Then one of the boys shot an
arrow into the head of the bear, and at once she fell dead. Then they came down from
the tree.

Now the four brothers were dead. The little brother took an arrow, shot it straight up into
the air, and when it fell one of the dead brothers came to life. This he repeated until all
were alive again. Then they held a council, and said to each other, "Where shall we go?
Our people have all been killed, and we are a long way from home. We have no relatives
living in the world." Finally they decided that they preferred to live in the sky.

Then the little brother said, "Shut your eyes." As they did so, they all went up. Now you
can see them every night. The little brother is the North Star. The six brothers and the
little sister are seen in the Great Dipper. The little sister and eldest brother are in a line
with the North Star, the little sister being nearest it because she used to carry her little
brother on her back. The other brothers are arranged in order of their age, beginning
with the eldest. This is how the seven stars [Ursa major] came to be.